Dien Bien Phu
For other uses see, Dien Bien Phu (film).
Dien Bien Phu (
Điện Biên Phủ) is a small town in northwestern
Vietnam in the province of
Điện Biên.
In the 50's, the town was known not only for its famous opium traffic, generating 500,000,000 French
Francs per year, which was an important financial resource for the
Viet Minh, but more so for its historical value.
|
Children playing on a French US-built M24 Chaffee.
(original photo taken by Marilyn Knapp Litt, 02.1998) |
The region was fortified in November 1953 by the French Union force in the biggest airborne operation of the 1946-1954 Indochina War,
Operation Beaver to block Viet Minh transport routes and to set the stage to draw out Viet Minh forces. The following year, the important
Battle of Điện Biên Phủ was fought between the Viet Minh (led by Vo Nguyen Giap), backed by the Soviet Union and China and the United States-backed
French Union (led by General
Navarre successor to General
De Lattre de Tassingny. The siege of the French garrison lasted fifty-seven days, from 5:30PM March 13th to 5:30PM May 7th. The southern outpost or firebase of the camp; Isabelle, did not follow the
cease-fire order and fought until the next day at 01:00AM; a few hours before the long-scheduled Geneva Meeting's Indochina conference involving the United States of America, the United Kingdom, the French Union and the Soviet Union.
The results of this battle are significant in that they ended major French involvement in
Indochina (
Vietnam,
Laos &
Cambodia) and led to the accords which partitioned Vietnam into
North and
South. The battle of Điện Biên Phủ is often described as a great victory for a Southeast Asian nation over a modern Western (i.e. colonial) power.
The fear of a
Communist extension in Southeast Asia, named the
Domino Theory by
Dwight D. Eisenhower during the Điện Biên Phủ siege and the departure of the French from
Laos,
Cambodia and
Vietnam led to the direct American intervention in
South Vietnam.
The town of Điện Biên Phủ has a population of around 125,000, although it was much smaller at the time of the battle. The majority of the population is not ethnically Vietnamese - rather,
Thai ethnic groups form the largest segment. Ethnic Vietnamese make up around a third of the population, with the remainder being
Hmong,
Si La, or others.
Điện Biên Phủ lies in Muong Thanh valley, a 20-km-long and 6-km-wide basin sometimes described as "heart-shaped". It is the capital of Điện Biên Province and has traditionally been considered remote. It is only around 35 kilometers from the border with
Laos.
*
Battle of Dien Bien Phu*
Docudrama movie about the historic battle*
Dien Bien Phu - History of the Battle
